Maintaining the estate

ASL and a little DIY can work well on smallish estates

It will have been, or is being, designed with a private made-up road and utilities laid on up to your property’s front boundary - by a developer. Limited street lighting, with the town hall responsible for replacing lamps, will be on the estate.

It makes sense to study the estate’s rules and regulations and cahier des charges (individual property requirements) before committing yourself.

You should ask for them if the person selling the plot or the existing property does not propose them. The cahier des charges normally is valid for 10 years from the estate’s inception, with local municipal regulations prevailing after that period. Building heights and exactly where houses must be built on plots, defined car parking areas, and any rights of way for property owners not actually in the estate, are the sort of matters covered.

All estates, whether they’re in a straight-down-and-back cul-de-sac form or a circular drive-through in-and-out form, have communal areas (pavements, trees, the road itself, the estate’s boundary walls, etc.) which need to be maintained by the estate home owners (co-propriétaires). Although a self-management committee of home owners or the appointment of a pro-fessional managing agent (syndic) is not a legal obli-gation, it is practical.

Small estates, say up to 20 properties, can be sensibly managed by an Association Syndicale Libre (ASL) with a Président, Vice-Président, Trésorier and Secrétaire drawn from the home owners, or their appointed representatives, by a majority vote.

The main advantage of a self-management association is that home owners only pay for what is actually spent or liable to be spent and an annual charge (cotisation) to fund expenses is voted by majority and reviewed when the ASL meets.

Expenses can be for items such as premiums for comprehensive insurance cover for residents and visitors in the communal areas; painting materials for car parking zones; repair or replacement of estate signposts, installation of an estate entry gate if required. For example if the estate is near a school, shops or tourist spot; unblocking or flushing out drains leading to each plot.

Labour costs for maintenance work can be kept down if able-bodied residents muck in and organise DIY sessions for tasks such as trimming small trees and bushes.

An ASL is also useful for getting to know the neighbours better, which is sometimes difficult in France, especially if your property is not your main home and consequently you’re not there for much of the time.

An ASL must have a bank account with both the Président and Trésorier entitled to sign cheques. The principal obligations of an Association are registration with the Préfecture, and an annual general meeting with an order of the day or agenda and presentation of the previous year’s expenses and receipts (Compte Rendu Financier).

The Président is elected for a maximum of three years but can have a new mandate after this, if they resign and are re-elected.

An Association Syndicale Libre (ASL) does not have to be eternal. If the estate is fortunate enough to have no upkeep costs, or co-propriétaires prefer to hang on to their money and cough up if any major communal repair becomes necessary, they can vote for its dissolution.

The only obligation then will be to officially notify the Préfecture.

Richard Whiting